WEB LOCALIZATION

The wise Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” His sage advice still rings true today and can be applied to nearly every business scenario – including website translation.

As globalization and connected technologies continue to erase the geographic boundaries of business, brands must prepare for how they will engage with diverse customers around the world. Companies with global aspirations cannot survive with content, packaging, web properties and marketing materials that only address a single core language. In fact, 55 percent of global consumers will only make an online purchase from websites that offer content in their native language according to Common Sense Advisory. This means that businesses stand to miss out on almost half of their prospective customers if they don’t make a concerted effort to localize their web content.

BRANDS NEED TO KEEP CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TOP OF MIND WHEN ENTERING NEW GLOBAL MARKETS.

Failing to address the unique challenges, requirements, nuances and languages of target audiences is a missed opportunity – and can negatively impact the bottom line. So how can brands build engaging web experiences that meet the needs of global customers? Let’s look at the characteristics of the top-performing global websites to learn more.

For more than a decade, Byte Level Research has tracked global web presence and ranks the top websites by their ability to service a number of markets in exceptional ways.

Their 2016 Web Globalization Report Card places Google at the top of the list, followed by Facebook, Wikipedia, Hotels.com and NIVEA. These companies received top billing based on their support for mobile devices (through responsive websites or separate mobile sites) and their high degree of global design consistency across localized websites.

The report praises Google for shattering industry standards for number of languages supported. The search giant now supports 90 languages while most companies plateau around 40.

Byte Level Research cites four key areas where the top global websites excel:

• • Global Reach: Support for a broad range of languages, which is the cornerstone for connecting people.
  • Global Navigation: Ability for users to easily find localized websites. Without this, the website may as well not exist.
  • Global/Mobile Architecture: Design must be globally consistent but flexible enough to allow for local content and functionality. It should also adapt to mobile devices and usage scenarios.
  • Localization & Social: Top performing companies localize their content for the user’s culture, country and community.

This report should be eye opening for B2C and B2B brands alike. As a first step, brands should complete a web content audit to evaluate existing content and develop a strategic plan for localization. During this process, you’ll need to invest time to truly dig into the needs and requirements of global users and stakeholders. Through this process, brands can determine which content is truly appropriate for individual target markets as well as any content gaps or under-performing content that won’t pay off when extended to new markets.

WEBSITE LOCALIZATION IS NO EASY ENDEAVOR, BUT IT CAN LEAD TO REAL BUSINESS VALUE BY TYING CONTENT TO AUDIENCES’ NEEDS.

Using the most effective linguistic process for each content type can reduce cost and deliver more effective content for each targeted locale. As a result, companies will be able to unlock potential in an increasing number of markets and deliver an exceptional customer experience that will become synonymous with brand image.